IndyStar Motor Sports Insider Jim Ayello and IndyCar driver James HInchcliffe will conduct a live interview on IndyStar.com with Purdue alum and astronaut Drew "A.J." Feustel, a gearhead who is taking photographs of racetracks from the International Space Station.

Join us at 9:35 a.m. Thursday for the conversation.

Of note:

>> The space station is moving 75 times faster than an IndyCar as it maintains orbit around the earth — 17,150 mph.

>> Feustel is 250 miles up. When he returns to earth in August he will have completed his own 500-mile journey (not including all the orbiting).

>> The space station is roughly the size of a football field. Which means at least 14 stations could fit inside Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The folks at IMS figured out a couple of years ago that 14 stadiums -- not just the fields -- would fit within the grounds of the 2.5-mile oval.

>> On Wednesday, Feustel and another astronaut conducted a 6 1/2-hour spacewalk —pretty close to the six hours, 42 minutes the first Indy 500 in 1911.